
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 786 503 8 



p6nmalif6» 

pH8.5 




/ 

Ag^ainst the Immediate Restoration of the Seceded States, 
in answer to Mr. Doolittle and others. 



SPEECH ;,, 

I OF -'*' 

xioisr. 13. IP. ^^r aj:>'e:, 

i OF OHIO, '' 

In the Senate of the United States, January 18th, 1866. 

Mr. WADE. Mr. President, 1 had not intended to say anything at this time upon 
this great subject of reconstruction, because it appeared to me better that we should 
await the action of the committee tliat we have appointed and charged with the duty 
of enlightening us upon tlie subject ; but I have lieard so much that seems to be en- 
tirely aside of the dilficulties that occur to my mind on this subject that I think I ought 
not to fail at this time to express some opinions that I entertain ; and especially as the 
Senator from Wisconsin, [Mr. Doolittle,] in the long, labored, and able speech that he 
made yesterday almost entirely failed to touch any of the difficulties that are laboring 
in my mind. 

The Senator began by invoking the principles and aid of the preceding Administra- 
tion, and informed us that the present Administration was proceeding upon the same 
principles that Mr. Lincoln had adopted. It is true that Mr. Lincoln had entered upon 
a certain policy in regard lo the admission of some of these States ; the question was 
agitated before us, I lielieve, during the whole period of the last Congress ; but, not- 
■withstandiug my anxiety to find some way by which these States could be safely ad- 
mitted into the Union again, all the arguments that were made for that purpose during 
that whole Congress entirely failed to convince me that the time had arrived Avhen it 
was safe to admit any of them ; and therefore, for one, I contended against it, and 
with a._good deal of zeal ; and for that i, with some others here, was accused of being 
a little factious, and sometimes it was said we fiilibustered against the will of the ma- 
jority to k«(^p these States out. 

Now, sir, I wish to say that in my judgment President Johnson has made a great 
improvement upon th« state of things that existed during the last Congress, although, 
as yet, he has not reached the point where I think the diificulty begins. Mr. Lincoln 
advised us to admit Louisiana into the Union at a time when, probably, more than one 
half her territory was trampled beneath the hostile feet of the enemy. Our flag did 
not cover her territory, and perhaps not half her population, when he thought it 
would be safe to permit her to come back into the councils of the nation and participate 
with us Union men jn the great work of legislation. I had not seen anything in the 
proceedings of the people there that warranted me in saying that that would be safe, 
and therefore I thought it best to make what stand I could against that measure. You 
will recollect, sir, that Mr. Lincoln did not then require, if I recollect aright, in order 
to the admission, anything more than that one tenth part of the population of Loui- 
siana should take a certain oath, and that not a very dittlcult one, and when they had 
<lone that the State was to be in condition to be admitted. Mr. Johnson, I repeat, has 
made an improvement, and a great improvement, upon all this, for he does require, if 
I understand him, that they, by their fundamental law, shall abolish slavery ; he re- 
quires at their hands that they shall repudiate the rebel debt : he requires that they 
shall renounce the right of secession ; he requires that they shall agree to the consti- 
tutional amendment abolishing slavery forever. These, in my judgment, are great im- 
provements upon the system adopted by Mr. Lincoln. Had Mr. Lincoln himself, at 
that period, required these things, and had the States assented to them, I believe I 
should then have yielded to his wishes and given my support to the measure. 

But, Mr. President, in the counsels that I have gi\en and the measures that I have 
advocated in the Senate, I have ever had one polar star to guide my action, and to that 
I adhere whether I am in the majority or the minority, and I never intend to be tempt- 
ed from it one single inch. I fix my eye upon th.; great principle of eternal justice, 
and It has borne me triumphantly through all difficulties in my legislative career since 
I have had a seat here. I say triumphantly— for, sir, I have stood upon this floor 
when I had not ten men to support me against the entire Senate, and when the princi- 
ples I advocated were infinitely more unpopular here than those I announce to-day. 
How were the whole Senate startled at the idea of universal emancipation fifteen years 
ago— ten years ago ; yes, sir, five years ago ! Talk not to me about unpopular doc- 
trines, and endeavor not to intimidate me by die intimation that I ('hall be found in a 
minority among the people! I know them better. I think I know that I tread in the 
great path of rectitude and right, and I care not who opposes me. God Almighty is, my 
guide ; He, going before to strengthen my hand, has never failed me yet, and I do r' i 
fear that He will do so on this occasion. 

Ivlr. President, I will not boast, but I, with many others upon this floor, can look 
back to our precedent course upon this subject, I think, with great satisfaction. I 
think we may say with St. Paul, " we have fought the good fight." We are not en- 



\ 






tirely throngh it, I admit, as he was. We may have a little further to go in the same 
direction, Imt oiiv path is much easier than it was then. 

\ Mr. CI>.'\1U':. We keep the l;ulh. 

Mr. WADK. Yes, sir, we keep the faith, and I have no clonbt of a final trinmph. I 
nevW>l'ear«(l it. 1 never hail the least douht how this whole question would be settled. 
It will all loiii^f'irght it' we are true to our convictions. 
.Mr. \VIL>OX. We will be. 

Mr. WaDE. I have no douht of it. I do not fear my associates on this great <iaes- 
tion. 1 wisl>^ ^ir, and I wish nothing more lu-artily. tiiat I could agre;- exactly with 
tie.' President's view of the subject, anil go along with liini in the stnooth j^ath toa linal 
and speedy adjustment of this whole question ; but there are things in that path which 
prevent n<y Seeing the ■way clearly. I give the President fnll credit lor all that he has 
done, and 1 honor him for the pertinacious manner in wliich he ha;, insisted on tho 
gieat guarantees to which 1 h?ve already alluded. He has conimenred, as it were, to 
build this great arch of freedom aright ; he has laid the foundations deep upon the 
rock of justice and truth ; he has demanded that slaveiy be alx)lished. 1 agree with 
hiui in tliis, and I honor him because be has stood Siimly by this den^and, and he 
stands luiuly by it now. All these requisitions that he has demanded of the South are 
.right, hut lie has tailed to put the keystone in the arch that he has built, and if you 
fleavtj it as it is it will go to ruin. 

\j When this great question is settled, I want it to be finally and entirely disposed of. 
I do not wish to be lighting eternally about slavery and distinctions of rights and privi- 
leges among tlie American p-ople. I say to President Johnson, to the Democratic par- 
ty, to the peoi>le of the United iStatee, that I will never yield this controversy until all 
men in America shall stand precisely upon the s-ame platform, equal l>efore the law in 
every respect. When that shall have been secured, I shall give up this great contro- 
versy in which I have been engaged so many years, and no man will be more rejoiced 
than nivself that 1 shall he relieved f i om it. 

I listened carefully to the elaborate argument of the Senator from Wisconsin yester- 
day, for I knew it was the announcement of the doctrines of the Administration most 
ably set forth, most deliberately prepared, meditated upon long, written and properly 
printed in advance ami submitted for its consideration beforehand; but I do not know 
how that was. 

Ml. DOOLITTLE. Perhaps as the Senator appeals to me upon that point, I may be 
indulged in stating, as I do most distinctly, tliat so far as the speech I made yesterday 
is concerneil, I have had no consultation with any member of the Adminittration 
in regard to it ; neither with the President nor any member of the Cabinet. I ex- 
pressed my own ojiinions, 

Mr, Wade. I only surmised what I stated; I did not know it to be a fact. I 
thovight it might be so from the surroundings that I saw here ; from some parts of the 
audience that listened to the speech. It seems I was mistaken as to that, but it makes 
no difterence. The Senator is undoubtedly the organ of the Administration upon this 
subject. 

i\ir. DOOLITTLE. Allow me to state that I certainly do not stand in any such rela- 
tion to the Administration any moie than any other Senator upon this lloor. There 
are certain points in which perhaps I agree with tin; opinions of the President more than 
the Senator from Ohio, but I claim no ni(U'e right to speak for the President than the 
Senator himself. 

Mr. VV.\I)K. I do not know that the Senator does so claim, but I know that it has 
been generally considered that he w^s more familiar with the views of the President on 
this subject than the rest of us. Perhaps this may be a luistake, hut it' does not make 
much dilfereoce how the fact is. I listened yesterday attentively to his able argument, 
in which he put Ibrth undoubtedly all the views in favor of the policy he atlvocated 
that occurred to him or that he could muster into its service, and his speech was more 
remarkable for what it did not say than for what it did. I do not remember that in 
the whole course of his speech he spoke of the fate of those four million human beings 

. whose rights are involved in th s controversy — rights which to him are dearer than 
life ; nay, sir, he would soom* sacrilice his own son upon the altar than consent that 
he should not stand upon an equal footing with his neighbor upon the question of suf- 
frage. If tliere were no such element involvetl in this controversy, I, like him, per- 
haps, should find no very great difficulty in the way, hut would allow things to g( on 
smootlily and quii;tly. It would be a very harmless and unimportant controveisy if it 
was barely to settle the question whether the rebel States in a metaphysical point of 
view are in the l.'nion or out of it. The Senator cited Mr. Lincoln's last speech, or dy- 
ing declaration, as he called it, in whic,h Mr. Lincoln himself alluded to that very ques- 
tion, and said that it Cwhich was so emphatic and so large a part of the Senator's 
argument^ had in his judgment little or nothing to do with the subject. I do not pre- 
tend to quote Mr. Lincoln's exact wo d^i. but he said: "Knough that the seceded States 
do not maintain such a relation to the (iovernment that they can be admitted without 
congressional aid, " or to that eflect. The Senator did not quote that portion ol Mr. 
Lincoln's speech. 

Ikit, Mr. President, I care very little what great names say on these subjects. No 
man honors the memory of Mr. Lincoln more than 1 do, but I do not invoke his opin- 
ions liere as controlling. L'pon the lloor of tiie Senate of the United States 1 look all 



s 

around for counsel ; I am willing to be enlightened from any quarter which can giv©,/*" 
UK* lislit, with regard to my duty ; and [ would as soon look to it from an humbln sourre 
as fioui th« President or any other man standing in liigh ofiicial position. They an* lint 
poor, mortal men at last, an I a Senator of tli(! United States has no riglit to yield iiis 
opinions to mortal men. He is sent here lor no snuli purpose^^ I Mcft-to have the aid, 
of the Executive, according to the eo'istitutional idea, to advise as to the uieasurns and 
principles that he thiuKs ought to be adopted; and no man will listen to him witli a 

"y more willing <;ar than myself ; hut unless his advice squares with my idea of duty, I 
' discard it as a Senator as I would that of any other man standing in any other ]>osition. 

Vj. Sir, the great question that it now devolves upon us to settle is one from wliiclt we 

cannot shrink ; it is for Congress and nobody else to settle. If we settle it and it be 
wrong, we cannot justify ourselves by saying that we took the advice of the Piesident 
of the United States, or of Mr. Linoohi, who is now dead. Although his memory is 
' i revered by all, his counseU will be no justification to us if we make a mistake upon 
this great and perilous ijuestion that is looming up before us in portentious niagnituile. 
^I say. Senators, look to yourselves, take counsel of your own judgment and conscience, 
of your duty to (iod and your country, and look less abroad and l(!ss to great men, be- 
cause if there were ever a question before you that was peculiarly your own it is thi&.. 
Where in the Constitution can be found any authority given to the Piesident to provide 
lor bringing States into this Union ? Nowhere ; but we, the representatives of the 
people of the United States in Congress assembled, sent here to do tlieir will under the 
Oou-titation of tue United States, are the only tribunal to decide as to the admissii>n of 
a State. We are the only body that oiight in a free (Jovernment to declare upon what 
principles a State that is outside of the legislative department shall be admitted to 2>ar- 
kcipate in it. I do not care for that purpose whether the conunanity is a 'i'erritory of 
tlie United States, or a State which has forfeited all right or all ability to acf for itself. 
Such qiiestions are ours ; they do not belong to the President of the United States ; 
and if they did this free Government of ours, of which we boast so much, would be 
the most concentrated despotism upon the face of the earth. While we encroach not 
a. hail- upon the province of the Executive, let us stand firmly upon our basis under 
_ the Constitution, and do that which is our duty before the people of the United States. 
Now, Mr. President, a word upon the subject wliich tiie Senator from Wisconsin did 
not touch. Here are four million people to be ostracised from this Government, to be 
made serfs forever, notwithstanding tlie declaration of their freedom, unless some way 
be contrived by wliich their rights shall be guarantied. I was one of those who early 
advocated the bringing of colored men into the Army and invoking their aid to jtut 
down the rebellion. Over and over aiiain I urged it upon the Executive, as a member 
of the comuuttee on the conduct of the war, and in my private capacity, and in every 
otlier way, long before that policy took eifect. I feel that according to the powers with 
which I was invested I did as much as 1 could to bring the Executive and Congress up 
to the mark o*" invoking to the aid of the Union the. colored people in the Army and 
Navy and wherever else they could assist us. What was implied iu all that ? Did it 

\' not force upon me a duty ? Would I lend my voice and my vote to seduce or compel 
that people to joepardize their lives iu defense of their country', and then turn tliem 
over to the mercy of their enemies ? 
Sir, the man who would do it, deliberately and knowingly, is the meanest of all 
God's creation. Having tempted them into the stiuggh*, having indueed them to fight 
through the war and hazard their lives iu your defense, having ijy this course incensed 
the whole rebel population against them, will you desert them and leave them in the 
hands of their vindictive enemies to be destroyed ? The Senator from Wisconsin did 
not allude to them ; all his sympathy was with the rebels, the men who endeavored to 
destroy your Constitution, the men who buried three or four hundred thousand of 
your bravest sons. My friend from Nevada [Mr. Si'tWAKT] sympathizes with them 
too. The brave colored men, weak and uninlluential in themselvas, but who gave you 
the strongest aid, and without whom I do not know that you could have got through 
successfully, have no part in these gentlemen's sympathies. Those who slew our 
brethren, scoundrel traitors to God and man, are the objects of their SA-mpathy. In 
all tlieir long speeches they cannot think of the four millions whom we brought on our 
side, and who imperiled their lives to give us most important aid. They sympathize 
', rather with those who, instead of sympathy, deserve a halter. 

^^ There is another question which the Senator from Wisconsin did not touch. I do 
not remember that he said a single word as to the temper and disposition of the people 
whom he seeks now to bring into the Government. /\11 he had to say was that a pro- 
mise had been extorted from them that they would abolish slavery, or that, they had 
abolished it in form ; but how are you going to guaranty that ? What provision have 
they made to make that secure ? *l shall never desert them. My honor, my sei.se of 
justice, is aroused upon this subject. I have invoked their aid in the Army ; I have 
agreed to ijrotect them in their freedom, and so far as my exertions go they shall be, 
whatever else may come. He said nothing about all this ; he did not tell us precisely 
what it was that he would do ; and now, after having listened to his elaborate speech, 
I do not know whether he would let these States right in now without any further in- 
quiry on the subject or not. He argued to show that these States had never bien out- 
side of the Union, but that the moment the insurrection was put down or suppressed 
they were iu their original place, and apparently had nothing else to do than to come 




p here and legislate for us ; and for all his speech told ns, our old enemies on this 
floor, whmn we banished for treason, may come back here to-day if their people see fit 
to send tbem. 

Pfiuilt me now, sir, to say a -word on the question of constitutional law, as to 
wlu'tiier the seet-dt'il t^tntes were out of thu Union or in it. I agree with Mr. Lincoln, 
in thinking that in settling the que^tion before us it is not very material to decide this 
point ; loi- if, as he said, their relation to the Union is such that they cannot partici- 
pate in the Government without the action of Coiigiess, it matters little whether you 
call them outside of the Union or in it ; the question will principally turn upon whether 
their tamper and disposition is such that it is safe to trust them in the councils of the 
nation. 

I have but a word to say about that question, because I do not consider it a question 
of very great importance ; but I think the distinction which the mind of any statesman 
would make is very obvious. If a portion of the inhabitants of a State of this Union 
have raised their aims against the General Government and the State, for they cannot 
oppose the one without oppo>ing the other, and the State is all organized and intact, 
aiding the Union to put down that rebellion, the State is not out of the Union, doe;- not 
lose lier oiganization, but stands intact, and the moment such an insurrection is put 
down the State stands as slie did before. IJut when the whole State becomes contami- 
nated, when it is so permeated by treason that all its olficers, from the Governor to the 
lowest officeholder, are displaced and thrown out of their position under the ('iovern- 
meut, if the people have organized their State on a basis of opposition to the General 
Government and declared war upon it, so that resistance to the rebellion within the 
State has entirely ceased, the State, as such, loses its right to be considered as an inte- 
gral part of the General Government. 

It will not do to tell me that there are scattering men in these States who did not 
agree to all these piocet'dings, for there never was a war, either civil or public, in 
which there could not be found some men in both nations who were opposed to the 
war, and who so expressed themselves. We know that during tin; war of the Kevo- 
lution many of the most eminent statesmen of Great Britain sided with us in the 
British Parliament, and sympathized with us throughout that struggle ; bnt were we 
less at war with England, or she with us, because some of her statesmen and many of 
her middle classes were with us, believing tliat we were right and their own country 
wrong ? Would a publicist, dealing with international law, or even municipal law, 
pretend that you were any the less a nation at war because here and there a man out 
of office could be found who did not believe that his Government was right ? That is 
not the way that statesmen treat such subjects. 

You must take the people of a State as you find them in fact ; and if they are rebels, 
if the State organization lias lost its power as a part of the Union, if is old loyal gov- 
ernment is rooted up root and branch, and a new government formed on its ruins 
hostile to the General Government, I say then it is out of the Union to all intents and 
purposes. Then all is anarchy, except by virtue of their new State organization, 
which is a treasonable organization ; and whether there be more or less of the people 
who favor it, is not a question for statesmen to look to. Statesmen look to the organ- 
ization, look to those in power, see who the Governors are, see who the legislators are, 
see who makes the laws. When treason has so triumphed over a State that her Gov- 
ernor and legislative councils are all organs of treason, enacting treason into law, and 
raising armies fpr the destruction of the old government, to tell me that in such a State 
that government is not displaced is nonsense. If the State is able to maintain its old 
organization and put down the insurrection, the individuals are guilty of treason, the 
State standing intact f but when tlie State organization has yielded to the storm, has 
ceased all resistance, we have to look on its people as they are, public enemies, and 
nothing else. 

1 hat, sir, very briefly, is the view I entertain on that subject ; but I have said it 
makes no difference what theoretical view may be taken, for I do not know that any- 
body supposes that those States are in such a condition that immediately upon the 
rebellion being quelled they could come right into Congress and demand participation 
in the councils of the Gt-neral Government. If they cannot, it then devolves upon 
Congress to say how they shall come in, to prescribe the rule, and to define upon what 
conditions they shall be permitted to come back. Therefore, whether you call them 
outside of the Union or inside makes very little difl'erence ; they are helpless; they 
are conquen-d ; they are incapable of any act of .their own. That would bring us to 
consider what is their temi)r'r and disposition now. Is it such that according to the 
great principles of human action and human experience, it is safe to permit them to 
come into the councils of the nation on an equal footing with the old members of the 
Republic that have stood by your old flag throughout? That is the result to which I 
wish to come. I would not legislate on any vindictive principle any quicker than these 
gentlemen, and I am willing to consign the past to oblivion if it can be done. You 
must judge of the characters of men l)y what they have done heretofore. Did ever a 
nation on the face of the earth which had been so merciful as to save the life of trai- 
tors that sought to destroy it, on the very next day after wrenching the arms out of 
their hands, invite tluni into its councils to particijjate in its deliberations? Would a 
man who was not utterly insane advocate aiiy such thing? Will you entrust the bur- 
glar with your keys ? Surely nobody will advocate that. The senator from Wisconsin 



5 

himself would not admit that these States may come here at once and thrust their rep- 
resentatives upor us without inquiry on our part. 

I hardly sui)posed that it was necessary to raise a committee to inquire into this sub- 
ject, all-important as it is. I s-upposed that every man who had arrived at an age 
which enabled him to be qualified lor a seat in the Senate W()hT<%- have had sufficient 
human experience to know that a wliole nation of traitors of the most vindictive char- 
acter tliat were ever heard of on tlie face of God's earth — men who had resorted to most 
baleful atrocities against our people— would not, on the next day after tlieir arms had 
been wrenched out of their hands against their will, be in a temper and disi)osition to 
participate in the old Government which tliey had been for year^ endeavoring with 
their lives to overthrow, and were invoking European despotisms to aid and assist 
them in overthrowing. Is that human experience ? Are your penal laws enacted with 
a view to such a trait in human naturtt ? Do men change so quickly ? St. Paul him- 
self, as we are informed, was like tliese men for a time ; he breathed fire and d^'■stl•uc- 
tion against the Christian church, and on his way to Damasciis — it is one of the most 
notable miracles recorded in the Book — he was clianged in the twinkling of an eye. 

But, sir, you contend for a miracle infinitely greater than that. You contend that a 
whole nation has changed in one night from the most vindictive enemies to be the 
fastest friends, with whom it is safe to trust political power. This is the gi-eatest mi- 
racle of modern or ancient times, if men believe it. The conversion of St. Paul was a 
small incident compared to it. Indeed, it does not require a miracle, according to gen- 
tlemen's notions, to convert the vilest traitor into a political saint. I want no commit- 
tee of investigation for such a matter. I know that if I were to enter into it I could 
produce abundance of evidence showing that their temper is just what might have been 
expected. I need not, however, go into it. The Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. 
SuMNEK,] some three or four weeks ago, in an elaborate speech, furnished evidence 
surticient to show that their fell purpose and intent had not been relinquished one jot 
or tittle yet. That was unnecessary ; it was only what all men would know witliout 
any evidence. It is human nature, and if a man is not a judge of that so as to solve 
such a proposition as this is, he does not know enough to be a member of the Senate of 
the United States. [Laughter.] Talk not to me of conversions of that kind. 

Another gentleman will tell you that very few of the southern men were engaged in 
the rebellion, that most of them were good Union men who were dragged into this in- 
fernal scheme to destroy the best Government in the world, that they perjured them- 
selves and descended to the degradation of hrinian crime. If you could establish such 
a fact, it would be no compliment to the southern people ; it would only show that the 
great mass of that people are infinitely below the Africans of whom we hear so much. 
Who dragged the people of the southern States into revolt against their will ? Their 
natural leaders, you say. A people that can be so led are not fit recipients of political 
power. I will not trust men that can bo thus led. When you argue against the intel- 
ligence of the Afi-ican and tell me of this incapacity to exercise the elective franchise 
for that reason, is not your argument a great deal worse against the whites of the 
Soiith ? Were they dragged and forced into the southern armies and their property 
sacrificed to carry on a rebellion against their will and desire ? Then do not contend 
for white suffrage. 

Mr. STKWART. I desire to know how the Senator proposes to extend the right of 
suffrage to the blacks of the South, whether by legislation or by amendment to the 
Constitution ? 

Mr. WADE. I propose to do it upon the same principle that the President assumed 
to do a great many other things that the Senator thinks and I think were right. I ask 
how it was that these States were compelled to comply with certain conditions which 
the Senator says are all-sufficient ? Is it not the fact that just before the adjournment 
of f.ome of the conventions in some of those States telegraphic dispatches were received 
stating that unless they complied with certain requisitions and adopted the constitu- 
tional amendment ther would not be adnutted into the Union ; and did they not there- 
upon conform their action to the demand made of them ? Does the Senator call that 
voluntary action ? 

Mr. STEWART. Do not the conditions prescribed by the President stand on a dif- 
ferent footing from the right of suffrage ? Does not the qualifier.tion of voters in a 
State stand on an entirely different footing from the other propositions as to which the 
President gave his advice ? 

Mr. WAUE. Not at all, in a constitutional point of view. If you could impose one 
constitutional amendment upon a State in a matter ordinarily belonging to the State, 
why not another ? They were advised and required by tlie Executive to pass the con- 
stitutional amendment. And, sir, if I was a southern man — for I am very apt to talk 
frankly — if I were a member of a southern Legislature, and under the duress of a pre- 
sidential mandate I was forced to comply with any such condition, I would, just as 
soon as I could, repudiate it on the ground of duress. The mandate of the President 
to a sec<-ded, fallen State to-day is nothing more than the command of a robber to a 
traveler on the highway. They have got to do what is asked of them, and they tell 
you so, and tell you that when they get freedom of action they will not consider t)ie 
conditions extorted from them as of any binding force upen them. 

Mr. STliWART. The question of suli'rage was not, while emancipation was, one of 
the conditions. 



) 




s « 

TVIr. WADE. Do not understand me now as contending that I am opposed to rpqui- 
rinp thi'Si' tonditioiis of the southern jx-ople. I think tliey were right, hut I want tliem 
adopted vohmtarily, and not by coercion or force. That brings me to consider auotlier 
question which has lieen greatly overlooked in this argument. 

i^lr. STi!,\VART.-^-I'Tto not understand tlie Senator y(!t as answering my question how 
the suffrage is to be extended to the blacks. That is a practical question tliat 1 desire 
to have answered. 

Mr. WADE. I will tell you before I get through. 

Mr. STEWART. I should like to hear it distinctly. 
y^Mr. WADE. I will tell you ex ictly how it can be done. It can be done by telling 
iTthese gentlemen in the southern Stales, these traitors, that we shall be as leuieut to 
our friends, the Union colored people of the South, as to them ; that they shall never 
put their fei^t upon this lloor until they do justice according to the rule of equity — " 
they who seek justice shall first do justice. There is no difficulty in it, and I was 
merely endeavoiing to show that that position no more transcends the Constitution of 
the Uniied States than that for which the Senator contends. He says that the Presi- 
dent has organized civil government iu the !:^outh. Where did he get his constitutional 
•warrant for that ? All the great ollicers of (iovernmenl are created by law, and the 
Senate of the United States must participate in their appointment ; but the President 
has appointed civil governors of the States to do civil business. I do not see where he 
got his warrant to do that if the States had not seceded. 

Mr. STEWART. I suppose it was his duty under the war power to provide for the 
re-establishment of civil government when the armed forces of the rebellion were over- 
thrown. It was undoubtedly his duty then to invite the people to organize. 

Mr. WADE. It was his duty under the war power. Would it not have been just as 
compatible with his duty if he had demanded that civil governmimt be organized by 
admitting all the colored people of proper age to participate iu making the constitutioa 
and laws ? Would it have been any greater violation of the Constitutioa than was 
done ? Would it not have been an exercise of military power if he believed it requisite 
for the public peace ? Where is the disiinction ? No casuist can draw the line of dis- 
tinction ; it is idle to contend for it. Where did he get the power to prescribe the oath 
which he required these people to take ? Uo you find that in the Constitution ? Where 
do you find it? Was it not as great a stretch of constitutional power to do that as to 
say that the colored men should vote ? 

Mr. STEWART. I think not. 1 think it very plain thi^t he had no power to inter- 
fere with the qualifications of voters in those States. There is no doubt about his 
power to make such legulations as should secure peace to the inliabitants, and he had. 
a right to iuvite the citizens who were then acknowledged to be citizens — the coustitu- 
tioual amendment liad not then been adopted — to organize civil society. 

Mr. WADE. Who are the citizens? 

Mr. STEWART. The loyal citizens. He only extended the invitation to loyal citizens. 

Mr. WADE. I have no doubt of his power to do it in time of war, l)ut 1 doubt very 
much his power to do it in times of peace. This is a time of peace. 

Mr. STEWART. Wliat was he to do? Leave them ihere to anarchy ? 

Mr. WADE. No, govern them by military power as he had doife from the time the 
war ceased up to the time he prescribed the oath. Why did he prescribe that ? 

Mr. STEWART. Had not the people a right, with his permission and consent, to 
organize civil s(Jciety as soon as they possibly could? 

Mr. WADE. No doubt about that ; but I do not want to be turned aside to a con- 
troversy on that subject. I am not contending that the President has done anything 
very wrong in all this. I agree that when we conquer a people who have no laws, who 
had no civil organization and could have none, it devolved upon the President of the 
United States to keep the peace in that country, and to prescribe such rules and regu- 
lations as in his judgment would conduce to that end until such time as Congress 
should assemble and prescribe the law to be followed. That is what he had a right to 
do, and in my judgment that is all the Constitution permitted him to do, and in that 
he had a very large discretion ; but I can see no antliority for the President to under- 
take to prescribe an oath which was to quality persons to elect a State government 
which was to be the permanent civil government of a State iu this Union, a part and 
parcel of the Union. 

I do not know where you find anything in the Constitution of the United i?tates to 
require that a State shall pass a constitutsonal amendment of any kind. I do not 
know how you get it constitutionally. I do know that he could not do it to a State 
that had not been in rebellion ; no man wojald attempt it there, and on his theory 
that the rebellious States had not been out, how could he do it to them ? There is 
evidently, therefore, a broad distinction nuide by the President between a State outside 
of the Union and a State inside. Neither the President, nor any Senator upon this 
floor, nor any statesman in the nation, would have thought of prescribing any of these 
conditions to a State which had never been out of the Union. 

Why, then, did the President impose these conctitions on the seceded States ? Be- 
cause they are out of the Union, and therefore he was right in demanding conditions. 
I say he has done well, so far as he has gone. I want him now, as I said before, to put 
the keystone in the arch, to invoke the loyal people in the South, those who have stood 
by us through evil report and through good report, whom you can trust, on whom you 
can rely to-day, to-morrow, and forever, as an offset to the traitors that you propose to 



let in. I want to counterbalance them, for 1 daro not trust them alone. I say there is 
no more constitutional diffiiuilty in the way of accomplishing this result than there is 
in the way of any condition that the i'resident has enjoined on that people. They all 
stand upon the .same principle precisely; and I wonder that any statesman or lawyer 
can contend that the President might impose the important radical conditions that he 
has insisted upon, and rightly insisted upon, as conditions precedent lo the organiza- 
tion and adujission of tliese ."itates, and stop there. If he can do what he has done, he 
can do anvtliing else that is necessary to effect the purpose, to bring these States back 
into the Union. 

There is no great difference in principle between what he has done and what I want 
him to do. He is right as far as he has gone ; and nov^' I want him to make what has 
been done secure by placing this great question where it must be placed before it will 
rest in peace, and tliat is, as 1 said before, on the rock of eternal justice and truth. I 
hope the nation will be agitated as by an earthquake until she shall be ready to do right. 
1 know she will tinaliy get down to this rock. You may build upon the sand, but the 
human mind will nut rest upon such a foundation, it has never rested upon it. We 
have progressed from one point to another until 1 think we are about stepping upon the 
rock, and then this controversy will cease and we shall be at rest. 

Again, sir, I deny that the organization of these State governments in the South has 
'begun at the right end so far. I contended duving the last Congress that the President 
had no right, by niilitary Order No. 37, or any other military order, to organize a State 
Government anywhere. Our Government must be a Government of the peoj^le. lu 
this country you cannot force a Government upon anybody. It might be very conve- 
nient if we could. A despotic Government may do it with perfect ease. When Russia 
conquers Poland she may trample her under foot, because aimed with despotic, irre- 
sponsible power. When we conquer a people we must deal with them within the pale 
of the ConstitLition, in analogy to the great principles of our glorious free Government. 
If a people conquered by us are so perverse, if they have been educated and stimulated 
by hate for generations, so that they cannot act with us now, you calinot make repub- 
lican government out of such material. You are beginning at the wrong end. 

Wlio has a-iked the President and Congress to establish civil governments in the 
South ? Hew can Democrats contend that a people shall be bound by an organization 
emanating from the centre ? Tliat is not the place for it to originate. These people 
must be held under military subjugation fthough an equitable one I would contend 
forj lantil they them-elves shall see that ihe time has come when they can act in accor- 
dance with the old Constitution and Government of the United States. They have not 
come to that yet, and nobody is surj^iised that they have not. Do you suppose that 
in a moment the temper and disposition of men who breathed lire and wrath against 
you for four long years, and murdered three hundred thousand of your bravest sons, 
and committed all the atrocities to which I have alluded, have been so changed that 
they will ask to be taken back into thai Government which they had invoked foreign 
des, otisms to overthrow, and to destroy which they had hazarded their lives and for- 
tunes ? 

I know that the sonthprn people will come back. I know it is as much for their in- 
terest, and infinitely more for tlKjir interest, than it is for ours. We all have a pride in 
the whole nation ; as the Senator from VV isconsin said, we will never consent to lose a 
single star from the old Hag ; but when we repair this breach, I want it to be done by 
the pt-ople of the South becoming convinced that it is for their interest, and telling us 
"we are sick of war; we are sick of contending against the power of the United 
Statea : and we ask and petition Congress now to permit us to organize a State govern- 
ment in accordance with the Constitution of the United States ; and we are ready to 
back up our petition by majorities uncontrolled by the Army, uninfluenced by any- 
thing except the will and wish of the people to get back into the old fold fiom which 
they had ^trayed." I know that they will come in due time, bvxt you cannot force it. 

What I wish to inculcate and insist upon is the utter absurdity of supposing that a 
democratic people can force another people to join them and comply with the forms 
of the Government when their hearts are at variance with it. The old maxim was that 
one man could lead a horse to water, but ten men could not make him drink. You 
cannot make a people drink in democracy until they get ready for it. You may give 
them the forms, but they are still idle ceremonies unless they are imbued with the 
spirit. Govern them justly by the strong arm of the nation until such time as they 
themselves shall have had an opportunity to reflect, to cool off, to become willing that 
a State government should be revived over them, when they see their interest plainly 
in that direction. When that is done there is no doubt they will come asking to be 
allowed to have a State government, some sooner, some later. 

Time is a great element in all such cases, and he is a most unreasonable man who ex- 
pects that in the twinkling ofjin eye you can make a people cordiallyjco-operate in this 
free Government who the day before were emleavoring to overthrow it ; and iintil the 
people themselves can agree to it, it is vain and idle, and worse, to contend that you 
can force them into this Government by this hot-house operation, and induce them to 
harmonize with you. They will come back in due time no doubt, and no man will re- 
joice more than I shall when that time shall come, and I can tell you when it will come, 
^eave them to themselvt-s ; do not send your great officers down there to persuade 
Ithem ; do not leave your conqueror with arm^ in his hands to say to them ''Come up 
jand make such and such a constitution, and come into the Union with it." That is not 



^ 




I 



8 

"^ ;the way; but govern them equitably until it is shown by their petitions, b.y their 
'fe^peeches, by tlieir actions, wliich nobody can mistake, tliat the great heart of that peo- 
plcT^ias relented and repented of the ciinies they have committed, and that they are 
williiJg and an::ious to come back to the Unjou as the ark of their safety, and there lodge 
and travel and act with us. 

Sir, I shall lTnrkv«9iyan3f.ioa|gl7 as any other man to see that there is this repentance, 
this tt^mper and dispcsitiou that Vvill enable us when they ask it to say to them, "You 
shall have the right hand of lellowship, you shall stand on as high ground as you ever 
stood on before;" but 1 can nevtu- consent that a govcrnnutnt shall be organized from 
this central point to bring States into the Union. Vou can bring them in by the Aimy 
of the United States ; you can force them to go throuiih tlie form of making a State gov- 
ernment and send their Delegates here ; but would that be a repul)lican government ? 
Would it be a democracj'' ? Would it be a government having its authority in the con- 
Bent of the people, such as our great Declaration of Indepcaidence calls for ? 

Mr. President, the great panacea for all our difficulties is to throw our prejudices to 
the winds and come u]) and do justice. Look at your old Declaration of Independence ; 
a document which has not its cijual ; a document which in sublimity, in usefulness, 
and in enlitrhteiiment to the hui!ian|,mind, es:cels any that has ever been promulgated 
among men. I am amazed that nearly a century has gone by since that great Declar- 
ation was given to mankind, and yet the mass of our Senators have not reached the 
sublime position in which our forefathers in that darker period stood. They knew full 
well that the (jrovernment they were foiuiding could rest upon nothing else than the 
great basis of eternal equal right and justice. I revere that Declaration because it 
came from their hands, but 1 revere it more because I know it came from the hand of 
the Almighty. It is the will of (xotl that no nation can prosper or rest in peace until 
it builds upon this foundation. I am for giving all the rights guarantied in that Dec- 
laration to all men, and especially to those who aided me in trouble, who aided me in 
securing to myself and jjosterity those great rights that we had all inherited, when they 
Were placed in jeopardy by the accursed traitors whom you look upon with such lenity. 

I do not wish to say much in answer to what has been said about the pardoning of 
rebels. The system of pardoning does not meet my aj)probation to the extent that it 
lias gone. 1 never would jjardon the wretch who, after having taken an oath to sup- 
port the Government of the United States, which educated liim and gave him a high 
and honorable position among his fellows in order that he might stand by the Govern- 
ment in time of trouble, sneaked away and perjured his soul to God and resigned him- 
self to treason. If 1 spared his life, it would be all he could have at my hands. Invite 
such a wretch as that into your Government anywhere ! Sir, this mawkish temhirnesa 
to traitors is treason to the State. To the mass of the people of the South I would, of 
course, grant an amnesty ; but the great leaders of this rebellion, who lead them on to 
destruction, cannot have my pardon here, and I do not know that they will hereaft r. 
If there is an unpardonable sin, the wretches \vho stood as the guardians of this great 
and glorious and equitable nation, and for selfish purposes turned around and sought 
its destruction, have committed it, and they should never be pardoned. 

But, Mr. President, I stand by my fiiends ; I stand by my pledges. The colored 
population of this country, four millions in number, are not to be ignored 1-y the 
speeches of gentlemen nor the votes of this Senate. If you could do so, you would 
create an .tli-n- oligarchy ; for when you cut oil' from the right to particii)ate in a free 
• Government four millions of its people — more than one-third of the entire population 
of the seceded States — when you <ut them off from this great democratic right, you lix 
a stigma upon them that cannot be wiped out ; it will have a bearing inliniiely beyond 
the influence in the Government that their votes will confer ; you will have trampled 
them under foot forever with the mark of Cain upon them ; and that will be your re- 
turn for their brave and able defense of your institutions in time of peril. Sir, 1 will 
Stand by them forever. As I have already said, my manhood, my honor, my sense of 
justice, and my policy as a member of a free Government all conduce to the same end, 
to make me stund fii ndy and forever by the rights of these fe^yr million people. So far 
as my voice can go, they shall stand upon the same basis that I myself stand on. I 
de-<pise, with a contempt that 1 cannot name, the man who will contend for rights for 
himself that h(! will not award to everybody else. Why I claim for myself or my chil- 
dren, pulitically, 1 will award to every member of this Government, and with more 
scrupulous guardianship to him who is weak and influential than to him who is pow- 
erful and able to defend himself. 

Sir, these are the sentiments that will govern me. I do not wish to continue these 
desultory remaiks. I thought that the elaborate speeches manufactured upon this 
subject, and the long orations pronounced over it, without suggesting the clearing of 
the path from any of the difticulties that must occur to everybody, were calculated 
rather to mislead than anything else ; and hence I wished to point out the difticulties 
that I have encountered all the while since th^i discussion has been up. I say once 
more, that whenever the southern States can give me evidence that it is safe to with- 
draw our troops from that quarter, that they will conform to the principles of tlie Gov- 
ernment, that it will be safe to admit them into our counsels, 1 sliall \fe first and fore- 
most to go with him who is for letting them in. But sir, 1, for one, will never consent 
to let unwashed traitors, dyed in the blood of ohr dearest friends, participate in the 
councils of the Government that they have endeavored to overthrow. 



LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 

mil mil mil ii'!i mil III! mil 



013 786 503 8 



\ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 786 503 8 



pH8.5 



\ 



